Man drops off his Fiat for paint job, finds it 3 weeks later with people living in it

A Charlotte man’s car was stolen and social media helped him find it, but he was in for an unpleasant surprise.

About three weeks ago, Evan Borden found an ad on Craigslist for a car painting service. After doing some research, Borden decided he would take his car to a man to have it repainted.

The man had posted pictures of cars he had recently repainted, so Borden didn’t think that he would lie about his car painting services.

However, Borden said, he was wrong.

Weeks passed and Borden still didn’t have his car back, so he started to become suspicious.

“He had been sending these texts back and forth with me basically misleading me and lying to me the whole time that all this stuff was getting done," Borden said. "Nothing was actually getting done.”

Borden filed a police report for his missing car and waited to see if officers could locate the man and his Fiat.

He posted online to see if anybody could help him find his missing car. That finally led to a tip coming in Tuesday morning.

The tip led police to a rest stop about five miles from Borden’s house. There, they found the car and the people living inside of it. The two people found in the car were arrested.

Borden finally got his car back, but he was greeted by something unexpected.

He said his first thought was "this is disgusting." The two people who allegedly stole the car destroyed the inside and outside of the Fiat.

The tires were flighty, there was a spot of spray paint on the hood, and the hood won’t even stay closed. The back seat of the car was taken out, and there was trash all inside the car.

Borden said he had a lot of plans for the car. Now, he has a damaged car and is $3,000 in the hole for paying up-front.

Borden says anyone could make the mistake he did, and wants to warn people to be careful when finding ads on Craigslist.

This story was originally published February 22, 2017 at 5:53 AM with the headline "Man drops off his Fiat for paint job, finds it 3 weeks later with people living in it."